1911] A MARCH THROUGH A SNOWSTORM 
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yards ahead. Debenham walked behind the sledge with 
the compass as near S. 65° (mag.) as he could keep it. 
Forde and Nelson glanced back to see his signals, and I 
tried to sight bits of ice pinnacle in our line ahead. It 
was eerie work. No sound, no sight, just gray-white 
mist enveloping us. Behind, Debenham's black figure — 
in front, a sheet of white with a few dark patches, any 
of which might be a small lump of ice ten yards off or 
a huge pressure ridge 200 yards away ! 
After several miles of this blindfold work, we were 
wondering how we were getting on- — for the compass is by 
no means reliable so near the magnetic pole. Suddenly we 
realised Crusoe's sensations more closely than ever before. 
We were over twenty miles from the hut and there for 
the first time saw our footprints of the previous week ! 
Nelson offered a reward of his raisins for the man who 
saw the depot first, and Anton soon won them. We 
reached our sledge at 2 p.m. and all six lunched merrily 
in our tent. Anton enlivened the meal by giving us a 
Russian groom's opinions on marriage in very broken 
English. 
The passing of this blizzard was a beautiful sight. 
Gradually the solid billows of gloomy cloud drifted to 
the north, leaving a brilliant blue sky. The straight 
edge of the storm nimbus was fringed with mackerel 
cloud as if a great grey curtain were being drawn away 
from the glorious snow-clad mountains of the west. 
We reached Butter Point on the evening of the 17th. 
About 300 yards up the snow slope is the depot which has 
been used by all the Western Parties since 1903. Here 
Q 2 
